MT. OLIVE - Marquette Catholic's Mike Wilson and Aiden O'Keefe finished in a three-way tie for second, while teammate Carson Jones was in a three-way tie for sixth with Father McGivney Catholic's Brandon Reed and both Staunton's Preston Denney and Luke DeWitt. They all advanced as individuals, along with Carlinville's Colin Pope in the IHSA Class 1A Mt. Olive Regional Tournament, held Wednesday at Timber Lakes Golf Course in Mt. Olive.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
The Explorers won the team title with a score of 310, which was good enough to win the Class 1A Golf Regional.
"The whole team had a great day," Explorers head coach Ryan Geisler said. His whole varsity squad advanced to Sectionals on Monday.
Litchfield came in second at 322 while McGivney claimed the last team spot with a third-place finish of 325. The Bulldogs finished fourth at 340, Hillsboro was fifth at 346, Raymond Lincolnwood came in sixth at 350, and Ramsey was seventh at 356. In eighth place was Vandalia at 364, the Cavaliers were ninth at 375 and Gillespie rounded out the top ten at 388.
Metro-East Lutheran was 11th at 403, Maryville Christian, competing in the school's first-ever IHSA state series of any kind, came in 12th at 411, Piasa Southwestern was 13th at 434, and the host Wildcats came in 14th at 466.
Connor McCall of the Vandals was the individual winner with a four-under-par 68, while Nate Brockmeyer of Lincolnwood, along with Wilson and O'Keefe, tied for second with identical scores of 76.
With Brockmeyer taking second, Wilson third, and O'Keefe fourth on a scorecard playoff, Tycen Thacker of the Hilltoppers was fifth with a 77. A.J. Odle of the Purple Panthers, Jones, and Reed all tied for sixth with a 78 each, Odle winning sixth place, Jones seventh, and Reed eighth in a scorecard playoff. Denney came in ninth with 79 and Will Schwartz of Marquette and Riley Knobeloch of McGivney were all part of a five-way tie for 10th with an 80.
DeWitt shot an 81 to advance to the sectional, while Pope came up with an 83 to move on to Monday's sectional as well.
In addition to the top four for the Explorers, Matthew Kane had an 82, while Sean Williams fired a 92. To go along with Reed and Knobeloch, Joey Hyten shot an 82 for the Griffins, while Dominic Zamarione had an 85 and both Brad Goodwin and Drew Vilhard each carded an 89.
In addition to both Denney and DeWitt, the Bulldogs had Broc Bell shoot an 84, Adam Overby had a 96, Bryce Coalson came up with a 97, and Luke Meyer shot a 100. To go along with Pope's score, the Cavies saw Jack Slayton fire an 89, Aaron Cordani had a 99, and Houston Turley shot a 104.
The Knights were led by Cole Renken's 90, while Jacob Kober shot a 95, Erik Neath had a 102, Lucas Lorenz came up with a 116, Harry Mueller fired a 119 and Logan Abbott had a 131. The Lions were led by Brody DeVary's 96, with Jeff McAteer shooting an even 100, Luke Laughlin had a 106, Logan Schwenk carded a 109, and Hughes Pfeiffer shot a 121.
The leading golfer for the Piasa Birds was Benito Biciocchi, who had a 103 while Ike Austin came up with a 108, Chase Cummings had a 110, and Nic Ragsdale fired a 113.
The sectional will be played Monday at the Effingham Country Club, with the state meet to be played Oct. 7-8 at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington.
Coach Geisler knows that their sectional is going to be super tough, but he's pretty confident that his team has what it takes to move on to the state tournament next weekend.
I want to go win the thing," Geisler said regarding sectionals.
Bradley Piros also contributed to this story.
More like this:
